Incentives to Keep Teachers

[Anonymous]

There absolutely is a shortage of new teachers because we old teacher teach prospective teachers about the lack of support, system of blaming the lowest paid teachers, and making new teachers accept that they are the reason for abysmal learning progress. It's a revolving door that is so due to making teachers the scapegoats of corrupt top down power dynamics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

Exactly, so you need to fix the problems in the school and for new teachers, mentor them and provide them with the support they need.

[Anonymous]

What happens when the mentors team up with admin to say teachers suck when students in hs are coming only prepared with a 3rd grade reading level. Someone needs to be blamed and it can't be the people that fraudulently passed them on for a decade straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

Exactly, so you need to fix the problems in the school and for new teachers, mentor them and provide them with the support they need.

Thank you for this outstanding advice. I never thought about trying to fix all of our problems! I’ll get right on that. I’m already mentoring 3 teachers on top of my full teaching load. Should I ask to mentor more?

Would it be okay if I ask for more than 30 minutes of work time a day? That would go a long way toward my goal of fixing all of our problems. I may be able to use a bit of that time to check on my three mentees. Or maybe I could grade some papers, plan a lesson…

[Anonymous]

Mentors might help but when young people compare their teaching jobs to their peers’ jobs, it’s a hard sell. They make the least amount of money, they have the crappiest working conditions and they have no say over any part of their job.

My son went to college with a few friends who went through the teacher prep program. Only half of them actually finished it and those didn’t finish more than two years of teaching.

[Anonymous]

Why are admins and mentors so distrustful of people that devoted their life to volunteering tens of thousands of hours and getting themselves I to a lifetime of debt to do so. Then you graduate from the most expensive university system in the free world to be blamed as the problem of education. It's not worth it. Never was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Um, there is a huge shortage of new teachers. Education departments nationwide have low enrollment. And new teachers become unhappy teachers very quickly, so they don’t last long.

Yes, the grass is greener. Other professions offer more respect, a better work/life balance, and a less hectic work day.

It would be hard to find a job that has comparable benefits and pay and only requires 180 days of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Um, there is a huge shortage of new teachers. Education departments nationwide have low enrollment. And new teachers become unhappy teachers very quickly, so they don’t last long.

Yes, the grass is greener. Other professions offer more respect, a better work/life balance, and a less hectic work day.

It would be hard to find a job that has comparable benefits and pay and only requires 180 days of work.

Ah yes, the “teachers have it so good” line again! I’m guessing you don’t teach. If you actually knew what a school day is like, you wouldn’t post this drivel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Um, there is a huge shortage of new teachers. Education departments nationwide have low enrollment. And new teachers become unhappy teachers very quickly, so they don’t last long.

Yes, the grass is greener. Other professions offer more respect, a better work/life balance, and a less hectic work day.

It would be hard to find a job that has comparable benefits and pay and only requires 180 days of work.

If it's that great a deal, why is there a shortage spread nationwide?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Um, there is a huge shortage of new teachers. Education departments nationwide have low enrollment. And new teachers become unhappy teachers very quickly, so they don’t last long.

Yes, the grass is greener. Other professions offer more respect, a better work/life balance, and a less hectic work day.

It would be hard to find a job that has comparable benefits and pay and only requires 180 days of work.

If it's that great a deal, why is there a shortage spread nationwide?

Because the workload during the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What should the BOE and County Council do to keep teachers?

I’d say:
No income tax for any teacher after x#of years
No property tax for teachers who choose to live in MC after 5 years within county and x#years of teaching

What else?

As a parent in MCPS with so many behavior issues ( incl but not limited to ADHD), a teacher needs a TA in class. This can be someone who may only have a HS diploma, but is there to deal with kids that are misbehaving, so the teacher can focus on teaching the rest of the class. So much time in my child’s middle school is spent on dealing with the same half dozen kids ( in an entire day, different classes ) that are not listening, being obnoxious or disrupting class for other reasons.

Private schools would not tolerate these behaviors- so why are public schools tolerating it? It is so disruptive for children who want to study and learn. It is not the teachers fault - their hands are tied by what the admin will or will not do.

We need TAs for the students who need help but we also need bouncers to get rid of the ones who don't want to learn. It's my dream to have a sweep of these students like in the movie Lean on Me. Get rid of them. Someone else (not the teachers) can offer alternatives for them but they need to be removed from the gen ed classroom.

Unfortunately, in public schools, you cannot get rid of students , per se. That is another big issue. I think having consequences where the child disrupting needs parents to pick them up- if it happens regularly, mandate psych eval and then go from there.

My DC 14 told me the other day that there are a couple of students that get detention / have to eat lunch with the VP every single day- doesn’t change a thing- behavior is still the same. So the consequences currently being implanted are not effective. The Board with parent input need to find more consistent and different consequences for disruptive behavior. Also, imo, it needs to be the same all across MCPS- no school and principal dependent.

But there are zero expectations of parents. There is no expectation that they answer the phone when admin calls them about their child’s behavior. If I had a time for every pissed off parents screaming, “He’s not my problem when he’s at school!” “Stop calling me!”

But it is the school's responsibility to provide services necessary to manage a student's disability. If a disruptive behavior is a manifestation of a disability, then the school needs to provide additional supportive services. They can't simply send the student home, although sometimes they try.

The schools simply don’t have the staff. Yes, it’s required, but the frank truth is that SpEd is near impossible to fully staff. A school can’t pull blood from stone, no matter how much the remaining staff may try. That’s why current teachers are blaze-of-glory burning out, trying to provide what’s required for MANY students. One person is just one person, though, and can only do so much.

They don't have the staff because MCPS hasn't prioritized SpEd positions.

It also doesn't help that there are 4X as many SpED cases than there were 10 years ago.

Yet they haven't been willing to increase SpEd positions according to the needs of current students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Um, there is a huge shortage of new teachers. Education departments nationwide have low enrollment. And new teachers become unhappy teachers very quickly, so they don’t last long.

Yes, the grass is greener. Other professions offer more respect, a better work/life balance, and a less hectic work day.

It would be hard to find a job that has comparable benefits and pay and only requires 180 days of work.

And yet teachers are leaving those benefits, pay and vacation time for regular jobs, without the benefits, without the same pay and without the vacation time. Apparently, those things don't make up for the crap.

[Anonymous]

Apparently, all of those "perks" don't make up for being treated like crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What should the BOE and County Council do to keep teachers?

I’d say:
No income tax for any teacher after x#of years
No property tax for teachers who choose to live in MC after 5 years within county and x#years of teaching

What else?

As a parent in MCPS with so many behavior issues ( incl but not limited to ADHD), a teacher needs a TA in class. This can be someone who may only have a HS diploma, but is there to deal with kids that are misbehaving, so the teacher can focus on teaching the rest of the class. So much time in my child’s middle school is spent on dealing with the same half dozen kids ( in an entire day, different classes ) that are not listening, being obnoxious or disrupting class for other reasons.

Private schools would not tolerate these behaviors- so why are public schools tolerating it? It is so disruptive for children who want to study and learn. It is not the teachers fault - their hands are tied by what the admin will or will not do.

We need TAs for the students who need help but we also need bouncers to get rid of the ones who don't want to learn. It's my dream to have a sweep of these students like in the movie Lean on Me. Get rid of them. Someone else (not the teachers) can offer alternatives for them but they need to be removed from the gen ed classroom.

Unfortunately, in public schools, you cannot get rid of students , per se. That is another big issue. I think having consequences where the child disrupting needs parents to pick them up- if it happens regularly, mandate psych eval and then go from there.

My DC 14 told me the other day that there are a couple of students that get detention / have to eat lunch with the VP every single day- doesn’t change a thing- behavior is still the same. So the consequences currently being implanted are not effective. The Board with parent input need to find more consistent and different consequences for disruptive behavior. Also, imo, it needs to be the same all across MCPS- no school and principal dependent.

But there are zero expectations of parents. There is no expectation that they answer the phone when admin calls them about their child’s behavior. If I had a time for every pissed off parents screaming, “He’s not my problem when he’s at school!” “Stop calling me!”

But it is the school's responsibility to provide services necessary to manage a student's disability. If a disruptive behavior is a manifestation of a disability, then the school needs to provide additional supportive services. They can't simply send the student home, although sometimes they try.

The schools simply don’t have the staff. Yes, it’s required, but the frank truth is that SpEd is near impossible to fully staff. A school can’t pull blood from stone, no matter how much the remaining staff may try. That’s why current teachers are blaze-of-glory burning out, trying to provide what’s required for MANY students. One person is just one person, though, and can only do so much.

They don't have the staff because MCPS hasn't prioritized SpEd positions.

It also doesn't help that there are 4X as many SpED cases than there were 10 years ago.

Yet they haven't been willing to increase SpEd positions according to the needs of current students.

Schools can’t fill existing positions. What would be the point of creating new ones? There aren’t lines of SpEd-certified teachers clamoring for positions.